Intro
*This post was created in partnership with Marriott Hotels. As always the words and images are mine, this time though, the recipe was a collaboration with Chef Chris Coleman from Stoke restaurant in the Marriott hotel.
When I travel my greatest desire is to get a sense of place. I want, no matter how long the trip may be, to feel like a local in a place that is not my home. To see how others live, to experience another place that is unfamiliar, to step out of my comfort for the sake of growing.
So much of the process is awkward. Or is that just me? I don’t like taking off my shoes in the security line, especially if I forgot to wear socks. I feel so weird asking people to get out of their seats for me so I can go to the bathroom. So much so I’ll not drink as much water as I should and then I just feel gross. Trying to fiddle around with the few words I know in a foreign language to ask for the simplest of things is enough to make my chest tighten and my heart pound. But when you travel to have all of these opportunities to gently nudge out of your comfort. It’s all so humbling and I love that. Because in the humility there is growth.
I walk through my day to day in comfort. It’s familiar, routine – I got this! becomes my mantra but when I travel I come face to face with my insecurities and my vulnerabilities. Then you overcome them and realize – that wasn’t so bad and all of those silly things I once worried about fall aside.
It’s also an opportunity – and this is the main reason why we’re instilling the importance of traveling in our children – to step outside your own world and see a new one. To learn from others and take those lessons back to our everyday.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” Mark Twain
Last week I had the opportunity to check out a new Marriott Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. While the hard things lessen in traveling within your own country I still seek out the opportunity to learn more about the place and the people who call it home. It’s incredibly difficult to do that in a day, which was how much time I was there but even within the hotel they made it part of their mission to bring Charlotte in. I savored coffee roasted just a few miles from the hotel at Coco and the Director and at Stoke, the restaurant on the property, I was met with towering black boards which proudly displayed the names of the local farms which supply much of the food highlighted on the menu. I sampled local beers from many of Charlotte’s booming breweries and fell in love with pickled Okra all the while enjoying my dinner on plates that are handmade by a local ceramic artist.
It’s stunning to see the farm to table movement reach all new heights and for so many who now value the importance of supporting local farms and enjoying the delicious food that comes from that.
I asked the Chef from Stoke at the Marriott if he’d be willing to share a recipe with us and I’m so thrilled he agreed. I was enamored with the recipe the moment I read “char the oranges”. Now I did make a few changes, hopefully Chef Chris won’t mind, but I found it difficult to source a few of the ingredients and wanted this recipe to be easily adapted for us, the home cook. It may now not be as native to North Carolina as it once was but it can boast a bit of a Pacific Northwest flair. And isn’t that also the beauty of traveling? When a sense of one place finds its way into another and we bring a bit of their beauty into our own and share some of ours as well.
So the meat is served cold with the warm sauce? Or you heat the meat again?
I’ll rewrite that part so it’s more clear. This recipe was written with a restaurant chef in mind so they chill the meat for serving large crowds. Not needed for the home cook.
This sticky braised pork sounds and looks incredible!
What did you serve with it? And why do I chill the meat in the fridge instead of just letting it rest while I finish the sauce? Please a few more instructions.
Joanne, I apologize for the confusion. This recipe comes from a restaurant chef so it’s written with a restaurant in mind. I’ll rewrite that part so it’s more clear. No need to chill the meat. Just serve straight from the pot.
Looks delicious! Is it possible to adapt this recipe to be done in a slow cooker? Mainly from the point where you cover the pot w foil and slip it in the oven..
I don’t know a whole lot about slow cookers but I think it absolutely could easily adapt.
I just made it in my crockpot (8 hours on low) and it taste divine!
That’s great! I’m sure that’s helpful to so many. Glad you enjoyed it.
Looks like a wonderful, whirlwind trip and that dish looks sooooo comforting and delicious. xx
Ashley, what a lovely endorsement for travel, and I totally agree with your assessments regarding it! It definitely broadens the mind. I am looking forward to a cold night on the bayou when I will be picking this delicious-looking recipe, thank you for all!
what a lovely recipe! love the cheddar polenta too! thanks for adding your tweaks in parentheses in case I’m able to get ahold of some of the regional ingredients!
Love that quote from Mark Twain. I don’t like sitting in the airplane either, though I love the second I step out of that plane into a new world/ foreign country 🙂 x Kati
Yes! That’s the best feeling.
This looks fabulous. I love when pork is fall apart tender! So glad the chef agreed to share his recipe!
I was very disappointed with this dish. I made it for my son’s 3rd birthday party. I trust recipes on this site and Ashley’s cook book enough that I don’t try them before I cook them for dinner parties, but this one was off. The sauce tasted bitter and the flavours seemed to be mismatched. Guests said it was fine, but no one was raving about it.
Oh Olga, I’m so so sad to read this. Did you make the dish as the chef wrote it or with the changes I suggested? I’m so sorry you didn’t love it.
Love, love, love this recipe! Thank you for sharing!
I made this for company last night exactly as you wrote it and it was amazing! I love cooking something different that doesn’t taste exactly like everything else I cook. Thanks!
I love hearing that! It’s a perfect recipe for entertaining.
This recipe looks amazing! Can you tell me what you served this with?
I served it with a sharp cheddar polenta and it was incredible.
I served it with sharp cheddar polenta.
I’m making this recipe Saturday!! I’m super excited to try it 🙂 how much stock do I put in the pot?
And did you still cut the bone in pork shoulder? Or just toast it on all sides? Confused on that part..